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db questions about next year.

I think James Smith will be at ss, LJ and Banks at corner. Will the juco safety commit be the fs? Will there be a position swithch (one of the corners) to safety? There is plenty of talent back here. Enough to win. We just need more pass rush or it will be the same thing all over again. imho

Re: db questions about next year.

I think LJ would be a great safety with his speed and hitting ability, he could be a real enforcer in the middle of the field. However, I don't know if they will decide that his ability at corner is too good to move him to safety..... he has the speed and hips that are hard to find at CB.

At least one of our corners needs to move to safety, IMO. Our safety coverage was just terrible last year and improving it is key to improving our defense. If Allen Bell doesn't win back his CB spot I think he could be a good free safety. Banks could do so as well I think . Benton could cover the safety position but he was a too poor of a tackler last year to play safety, but he was just a freshman so he could improve that aspect and make a good safety as well. Possibly Linder who RS last year could play their too.

The good thing is, our safety play can only get better from this season. Also, I would hope our new DC employs schemes that don't consistently leave our safeties covering Jeremy Maclin or Kerry Meier one-on-one. No safety will win those matchups.

Re: db questions about next year.

I think James Smith will be at ss, LJ and Banks at corner. Will the juco safety commit be the fs?

I'm pretty sure that in a tampa 2, there are no strong/free safeties. Just "safety". Correct me if I'm wrong, but that was something Brad Childress was saying about his collection of safeties.

I don't know why you guys think we're deep at corner. We never had enough corners. Didn't you see all those wide receivers people were playing? Why do you think Chizik is recruiting more corners? At the very least, someone (or, someones) is always hurt. Corner is one position that we actually have decent--not great--depth on the team.

I think that safety depth will come from newcomers, much as corner did for '08. Butler might be a starter, but Land will see time, and I don't think Chizik is done recruiting, either.

As far as those of you who keep clamoring for lJ to switch to safety--he's a freshman, and played at something like 5-10 179, for cryin' out loud. First off, that's hardly the size Chizik likes in his safeties--height is a good thing. Secondly, since he hadn't played corner before, at least let him get through Spring and Summer drills, and see how his coverage skills improve. There's no reason to switch a potential All American corner to safety just because you have some guys who might make all conference one day.

Re: db questions about next year.

I don't understand the mentality on this board that if you have a good corner, you move him to safety. This kid won the starting spot at corner his freshman year. Just because he can hit you move him to safety? We need our best cover guys at corner. LJ needs to stay where he's at.

Re: db questions about next year.

Originally Posted by hfour

I think James Smith will be at ss, LJ and Banks at corner. Will the juco safety commit be the fs? Will there be a position swithch (one of the corners) to safety? There is plenty of talent back here. Enough to win. We just need more pass rush or it will be the same thing all over again. imho

Re: db questions about next year.

I'm pretty sure that in a tampa 2, there are no strong/free safeties. Just "safety". Correct me if I'm wrong, but that was something Brad Childress was saying about his collection of safeties.

I don't know why you guys think we're deep at corner. We never had enough corners. Didn't you see all those wide receivers people were playing? Why do you think Chizik is recruiting more corners? At the very least, someone (or, someones) is always hurt. Corner is one position that we actually have decent--not great--depth on the team.

I think that safety depth will come from newcomers, much as corner did for '08. Butler might be a starter, but Land will see time, and I don't think Chizik is done recruiting, either.

As far as those of you who keep clamoring for lJ to switch to safety--he's a freshman, and played at something like 5-10 179, for cryin' out loud. First off, that's hardly the size Chizik likes in his safeties--height is a good thing. Secondly, since he hadn't played corner before, at least let him get through Spring and Summer drills, and see how his coverage skills improve. There's no reason to switch a potential All American corner to safety just because you have some guys who might make all conference one day.

We are not deep at corner, but we are very, very deep at corner relative to our safety depth. Our safety play was god-awful last year and two of the top three graduated. It has to be improved and counting solely on newcomers to improve a huge weakness is a recipe for disaster.

Also, nobody is clamoring to move LJ to safety, just some discussion on the fact that he could be a great safety. I think he will stay at corner though because of his ability there.

I also have read on another board that Land may have outgrown safety and end up being a LBer, so I don't know if we can automatically count on minutes from him at that position yet.

Re: db questions about next year.

Originally Posted by CloneIce

We are not deep at corner, but we are very, very deep at corner relative to our safety depth. Our safety play was god-awful last year and two of the top three graduated.

Well, to me it makes no sense to weaken one position to strengthen another. Like the people who suggest that Chris Lyle put on fifteen pounds to play strongside end. Aside from the issues of Lyle's "best" position, we would just be getting a three deep at rush end with Parker, Lyle and Maggitt, a nice mix of experience and youth, and we'd be destroying that to cover a different spot.

Or the people who say that James Carpenter doesn't matter, that we have "plenty" of talent to cover left tackle. We don't, switching someone from elsewhere just weakens those positions. Oh sure, we can probably "get by", but I'd really rather that Cyclone football were in a position where we weren't merely "getting by" any longer.

If a position is a strength, I'd rather have it remain a strength, rather than weakening it to cover another.

Besides which, both Banks and Bell will be seniors, so we'll need all of the experience at corner in '10 that we can get.

Our safety play was god-awful last year and two of the top three graduated.

Can't argue with that.

It has to be improved and counting solely on newcomers to improve a huge weakness is a recipe for disaster.

The advantage being that Butler will be here for Spring ball.

And "relying on newcomers" worked for cornerback last fall, even though signing Banks late was something of a fortuitous accident.

Re: db questions about next year.

I don't see why people want to move of best player on d to the saftey spot! Seems dumb to me, I would much rather see Banks move to saftey before LJ...both are 5' 10'' but Banks is 193 and LJ is 179...I'm guessing LJ is going to put on more weight this offseason but still I would rather but a bigger Banks back there...

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